Fate and Loopholes
by SamCyberCat
Summary: After coming home for the summer, Fubuki and Asuka discuss the issues of fate and why it isn’t always the best thing. Ryo/Fubuki.


Notes – For the gx_100. Set just after season two, during the summer holiday before season three.

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The Hikari no Kessha… It would have been a lie to say that everything that happened so quickly, because in reality the whole affair had been painfully drawn out over the course of the second year. But the ending of it all, that had happened quickly.

Everything was just a blur of promises, defeats and victories, the most important of which hadn't even been seen by more than a few people.

Asuka hadn't seen the moment that Juudai had defeated Saiou. She'd heard it was around the time when they were all watching the finals of the Genex Tournament, and perhaps that was a good thing. All that mattered was that Juudai had won and it was over. Everyone was safe.

But the lingering damage…

She bit her lip as she tried to focus on room in front of her. Her own room, in her own home, not at Duel Academia. For all that school was starting to feel more like somewhere to belong than her house did there was something about coming back here that made her feel safe. No danger ever happened here, and most importantly no one had ever tried to take over she mind here either.

It wasn't that she thought it was Manjoume's fault, or even Saiou's, they had both been manipulated by something far greater, but that didn't stop her from feeling pained about what had happened. The Light had seemed so right, and even now it was gone she still knew that she had chosen it.

There was a noise from the direction of the floor, which was enough to remind her that her brother was there. Fubuki lay on his stomach gazing off at nothing in particular. For once he wasn't smiling.

Being home probably meant something to him too. It meant he could drop the act and reflect on everything that happened to him over the past year. What had happened to him? Oh, he'd lost her. She was so independent that sometimes she would momentarily forget that other people worried about her. Though a lot of people had been concerned when she'd joined that group she felt awkward dealing with their protective natures after she'd come back.

And there was always that other person…

She'd heard about Fubuki's duel against Ryo after she'd come back too. It looked like she'd missed a lot of important duels, but that one she was glad to have not seen. For some reason Fubuki had thrown his fate to Darkness to win the match. It had seemed like madness to her and she gave him a piece of her mind after she found out about it, but he'd looked at her seriously and told her that he believed that he could bring him back from the darkness by entering it himself and walking away with him.

But he lost.

And when she asked him if that meant he couldn't save Ryo he shook his head and said that Ryo was never controlled by any darkness and his actions were his own. Admittedly she wasn't sure that was entirely better but for some reason it comforted Fubuki.

That didn't stop him from moping around her room however. It had taken him the better part of two minutes to even register that she was looking at him, by which time she'd returned to what she had been doing before her mind had wandered.

In front of her was one of Fubuki's jackets from Duel Academia, which she had been quietly sewing up. When they were kids their mother had done this, and she had no doubts that Fubuki could do it himself, but when he'd turned up outside of her room with the garment held out in front of him she could hardly say no.

Maybe he'd just wanted the company. Not that he was bothering to talk much.

"You said it was for the best," she said out loud, watching the white thread as the needle ran in and out.

Quietly he replied, "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Then how is it any better at all? If he had been controlled by something then there was a chance he could have been rescued, like both of us were. This way we know we'll never see him as he was before," Asuka said.

"Knowing that he made the choice himself means that I can believe in him. It might not be the right thing as far as any of us can see, but the way he wants to live his life is always better than the way something else might want to. What if he was doing good, but was doing it because a force of fate made him and not out of his own choice? Would that be any better?" The last sentence lingered longer than Asuka liked.

"I guess not…" she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"Then we need to accept that this is him, and that if he does see what he's doing as being wrong someday than that's his choice too, but until then he's doing what he thinks he should do. Which is always better than being controlled by something else."

Fubuki would know that better than most people, Asuka thought to herself. Except perhaps for Saiou in whatever hospital they had taken him off too…

"Fate is difficult," she concluded.

"Fate's a bi-"

Fubuki was silenced by her glare before he could finish that sentence.

"It's done now anyway," she said, holding up the repaired jacket for his inspection.

Getting off the floor he took it from her replied, "The rest of this year's done as well at least."

"For the best," she agreed, "Though I have to ask why you asked me to fix it anyway. Couldn't you or mother have done a better job with this kind of thing?"

He smiled and turned to leave, answering, "I came to you because I wanted to, not because fate told me."


End file.
